Fires Of Liberation
-George Chin

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, the newest game in the popular fighter simulation franchise developed by Namco Bandai, will be exclusively released for the Xbox 360 on October 23, 2007. It will be released on the PS3 as well but a week later.

This is the first Ace Combat game to soar onto next-generation consoles. The five previous games were released on the Playstation and Playstation 2. Ace Combat 6 will be a vast improvement over the previous games, boasting a “Dynamic Operation System” which will allow the entire game to feel like a “living battlefield” with real-time aerial combat.

Over 900,000 demos of the game were downloaded on Xbox Live and many people are eagerly awaiting its release on October 23.

“For those that enjoy the arcade aspect of flight simulations, you can’t top this game.  The online component should attract many gamers who have previously been confined to shooters alone.  The flight mechanics add a new dimension to the online experience,” said Mike Rose.

Game producer Hiroyuki Ichiyanagi and director Natsuki Isaki had hoped to achieve more realism in the game by featuring over twenty real fighter jets in the game such as the F-15 E Strike Eagle and the F-22 Raptor, and 3D “Google Earth” inspired maps were used extensively for the ground below.

Most of the single player campaign will revolve around the player dog fighting over the fictional city of Gracemeria against the Estovakian Air Force. There is also a multiplayer over Xbox Live which will include modes such as death match, team death match and cooperative play where players face computer controlled enemies.

There will be two separate versions of the game released. The original will go for $59.99 but the Ace Combat flight stick bundle will include a special controller called “The Edge”  as well as the game disc for a whopping $149.99.